Cold Husband Burning Regret: The Divorce He Couldn't Handle novel Chapter 301

For a fleeting moment, Charlotte Sterling’s mind went completely blank.

Then, his voice rang out above her, calm and commanding. “Just cut the way you always do. Show us you can handle this.”

Pressing her lips together, Charlotte quickly regained her composure. Steady hands, steady mind. She cracked open the skull with the surgical drill, then used her scalpel to carefully slice through the layers of brain tissue, methodically clearing out the hematoma.

Judd Carstairs watched the bloody scene unfold, his head spinning and vision blurring at the sight.

His face was pale as paper, but he forced himself to stay upright, refusing to falter.

“Dr. Carstairs, would you like to step out for a moment? We can have someone else take over,” a nurse whispered gently.

He shook his head, expression unmoved, and handed his instrument to Charlotte. “I’m fine.”

Charlotte remained focused throughout, not allowing herself the luxury of distraction.

Meanwhile, outside the OR—

Candida Donovan was sobbing uncontrollably in the hallway, tears and mascara streaking her face. Noreen Lennox and another nurse hovered by her side, offering what comfort they could.

“I just don’t understand how this happened! My husband was perfectly healthy one moment, and then—just like that—a brain hemorrhage? We were finally about to enjoy our lives together! If something happens to him, what am I supposed to do?” Candida wailed, clutching a handful of tissues Noreen had handed her.

“Auntie, please don’t worry,” Noreen soothed, patting her arm. “Your husband’s in good hands. He’s going to make it through this.”

“But they’re operating on his brain!”

“Our doctors are the best. You have to trust them,” Noreen insisted.

Candida’s sobbing quieted to sniffling, but she said nothing more.

Four hours later—

Charlotte finished suturing the incision and checked the patient’s vital signs—stable, for now. The entire team finally let out a collective sigh of relief.

But the real surprise was Judd.

Judd Carstairs, notorious for his severe germophobia and aversion to blood, had managed to last all four hours in the OR.

Charlotte glanced at him with a smile, ready to crack a joke, but before she could speak, Judd suddenly swayed and collapsed toward her.

She lunged forward and caught him just in time.

“Professor Carstairs!”

His father had dedicated his entire life to medicine. Teague himself had never inherited that talent; instead, his son had. And after that incident years ago, the Carstairs nearly lost their boy.

Judd had come home battered and traumatized. Ever since, the mere sight of anything resembling blood made him nauseous—or worse, made him faint.

That was when the old man gave up trying to groom Teague as his successor, and took on a student from the medical school instead.

But Teague had never met that student—not once.

“Charlotte sounds like a woman’s name,” Teague remarked quietly.

Daphne shot him a look. “…She is.”

“Pity. She’s married into the Howard family,” Daphne added, her tone laced with regret.

Teague’s eyes lingered on her, an inscrutable look on his face.

Daphne rolled her eyes. “What? Don’t give me that look! If you’re still hung up on the past, that’s your problem, not mine.”

With a huff, she moved to sit by Judd’s bed.

Gentry, sensing the tension, cleared his throat awkwardly. “Um… I’ll just step outside and give you some privacy.”